1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a battery pack which houses a plurality of batteries and which is to be mounted on a vehicle or the like.
Priority is claimed on Japanese Patent Application No. 2010-000108, filed Jan. 4, 2010, the content of which is incorporated herein by reference.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, a battery pack which houses an assembled battery with battery cells connected in series or in parallel, together with peripheral devices, requires a cooling mechanism for cooling heated battery cells. This cooling mechanism uses a fan or the like attached to the casing of the battery pack to take outside air into the interior of the battery pack casing and cause it to travel through between battery cells, thereby cooling the heated battery cells.
For example, Patent Document 1 discloses a battery pack in which an assembled battery is housed within a battery housing casing, and a cooling airstream flowing into the battery casing through an opening part provided in the battery housing casing, cools each battery module of the assembled battery. The battery module is configured with a plurality of battery cells. This opening part provided in the battery housing casing has an opening/closing valve provided therein, and this opening/closing valve is opened when supplying a cooling airstream into the battery housing casing, and is closed when a cooling airstream is not supplied.
In the battery housing casing, there are provided an air inlet chamber and an air discharge chamber, and between the air inlet chamber and the air discharge chamber there is arranged the assembled battery. Air that is drawn into the air inlet chamber (cooling airstream) travels through between the respective battery modules of the assembled battery and is discharged from the air discharge chamber, thereby cooling the respective battery modules.